OXFORD’S Covered Market traders face rent increases of up to 70 per cent over the next five years.

Oxford City Council last night said the figure was just a starting point for negotiations.

It is believed the rent hike faced by businesses in the historic market varies between 40 and 70 per cent.

Andy Hill, of John Gowing Jewellers, said the move would turn the independent Covered Market into a ‘bland pastiche’ of national chains.

The company, which has been in business since 1946, faces a rent increase of 66 per cent.

He said: “The problem is we’re in the biggest recession the country and world has ever known and the city council live in a rarefied atmosphere where they think we can find on average an extra 50 per cent to pay for rent.

“It shows they have not much of a grip on reality. What will happen is that we will end up with a Covered Market like any other, selling frothy coffee and expensive sandwiches.

“It will become a bland pastiche, rather than independent specialists. People cannot possibly find that extra money on top of everything else.”

Oxford City Council said the rents on 55 of the shops at the Covered Market are being reviewed and all traders for whom it is applicable have received rent notices.

Councillor Bob Price, leader of Oxford City Council, said: “We carry out rent reviews for the Covered Market units every five years.

“We have been working with the traders over the past six months to ensure that they are fully aware of the process.

“An independent review has been carried out by a local chartered surveyor in order to assess the current market rent for the units and the proposed rents have been based on comparable market evidence.”

Baron Robert Pouget, who founded the Oxford Cheese Company, said his rent has increased from £7,000 to £11,000 a year.

Oxford Mail: Negotiations: Bob Price

  • Bob Price

He said: “Some would say we have got a very small rent, but we are a small unit.

“We are very successful – what really annoys me is that I know other people who have had their rent increased from £20,000 to £30,000, and they just cannot afford it.

“Markets like this in provincial England have turned into little more than sukhs, where people sell T-shirts and rubbish.

“It’s appalling. They’re changing the whole character of the place.

“It’s going to go downhill and end up closing it down.”